1st September 2024
Cockroft and Fortune win gold as Great Britain claim first medals
Hannah Cockroft defended her women’s T34 100m title for a third time as Sabrina Fortune won her first Paralympic gold in the women’s F20 shot put.
Sammi Kinghorn kicked the evening off, winning Great Britain’s first athletics medal of the Games with silver in the women’s T53 800m.
Also claiming silver was Karé Adenegan who followed Cockroft onto the podium for a third consecutive Games.
Cockroft (Paul Moseley, Leeds) has never lost a race at the Paralympic Games and the record continued even though she admitted she was unsure of gold this time around.
“I honestly didn’t know if I’d win it today,” the 32-year-old said. “This was the scary one.
“It means so much to hold on for a fourth Paralympics, not a lot of people do that.
“My wheels were buzzing, I was trying to find my grip. The last time I felt like that was London 2012 and I couldn’t be upset, look at those stands, they are full, which is what we want.”
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Cockroft posted a time of 16.80 seconds to claim gold, with Adenegan (Job King, Coventry) 1.19s behind, to claim her sixth Paralympic medal.
Adenegan said: “The time wasn’t amazing, I’d have liked a bit more, but it’s another Paralympic silver medal.
“It means a lot, I had moments where I was questioning what kind of form I’d be in coming here.
“To be a six-time Paralympic medallist is amazing and hopefully I might have another one by the end of the week.
“It is going to get harder to stay where I am as the depth improves but it does give me motivation.”
Fabienne Andre (Richard Chiassaro, Harlow) advanced to the final as the third-fastest qualifier but in a stacked field she had to settle for fifth in a time of 18.86.
Beginning the medal rush was Kinghorn (Rodger Harkins, Red Star) who won ParalympicsGB’s first athletics medal of the Games, upgrading her fourth-place finish from Tokyo.
The 28-year-old was a comfortable second as she overcame a technical issue before the race to get on the podium in a time of 1:42.96.
Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner set a Paralympic record to claim gold, with Kinghorn finishing almost four seconds ahead of Hongzhuan Zhou of China who claimed bronze.
“That’s pretty crazy to win the first medal,” she said. “I was having a little bit of a technical issue and I was having a little bit of panic out there before the start line and Hannah gave me a hug and was so good and just said to me ‘believe in yourself, you got it’.
“And she didn’t need to do that, she’s racing tonight, she could have just taken herself into the corner but she saw that I was worried and came over and I really appreciate that.”
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Fortune (Ryan Spencer-Jones, Deeside) then added to the medal tally on the day ParalympicsGB won 12 gold medals across all sports, a record showing.
Despite admitting to pre-competition nerves, Fortune showed no signs of them to break her world record by 29 centimetres with her first throw.
Not content with that, Fortune went on to throw the next three furthest distances to confirm herself as the best in the world.
It was also a redemption of sorts after finishing fifth in Tokyo having picked up an injury prior to the Games.
She said: “I was really worried after Tokyo and then I just accepted the fact that it doesn’t mean you will always stay down.
“You will stand up and sometimes you stand up much better and I just hoped I would do so and after this year, after world record, after world record, after world record and PBs, I was just going ‘you know what, anything can happen’ and I’m going with being positive over it and hoping that it’s going to be a good day.”
Nathan Maguire (Ste Hoskins, Kirkby AC) achieved his best individual result at a Paralympics with fourth in the men’s T54 400m, while Daniel Sidbury (Christine Parsloe, Sutton & District) finished sixth in his heat earlier in the day.
Melanie Woods (Rodger Harkins, Red Star) knocked two seconds off her personal best, which she had set in the women’s T54 800m heats, to finish sixth in the final.
Zak Skinner (Aston Moore, Birchfield Harriers) improved his placing from the men’s T13 100m final at Tokyo 2020 by finishing sixth in Paris in a time of 10:93.
In the morning session, Funmi Oduwaiye (Josh Clark, DSW Para Academy) delivered a strong Paralympic debut with eighth place in the women’s F64 discus.
Jonnie Peacock (Dan Pfaff, Charnwood) then rounded out the day by qualifying for a fourth consecutive men’s T64 100m final as he finished third in his heat in a time of 10.93.
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